Fashion Week Handbags: Valentino Spring 2012

If the bags from Versace Spring 2012 are any indication, Donatella Versace may have spied on my childhood vacations quite frequently. For a brand so inextricably linked to Miami, these designs make a certain amount of sense.
The starfish and seashells gave way to an endless array of...

Hermes Spring 2012 didn't have any, and with handbags playing such an integral role in the brand's success, it would be nice to have a more public look at what Lemaire can do with the Hermes' most iconic products. As Gaultier showed us for all those years, they make an excellent canvas for...

Perhaps improbably, Marni is always one of the handbag collections that I look forward to the most during Milan Fashion Week. The brand doesn't have a reputation in the accessories world as a purse powerhouse, but I love Marni's signature blend of girlishness and modernism. The end result is...

Luckily, New Prada Day comes twice a year (or four times, if you count Resort and Pre-Fall, which I do if I'm feeling desperate), and one of those days was yesterday! Naturally, Miuccia didn't disappoint – Prada Spring 2012 was playful, feminine and incredibly smart.
Prada's bags tend to...

I'd encourage all of you to take a look through the entire Balenciaga Spring 2012 collection because, let's face it, Ghesquiere is that good, but you'll get an idea of what was going on just from the bags. Half were ultraminimal two-tone shoulder bags and boxy shapes, and the other half...

While we wait for the Milan shows to start in earnest, now seems as good a time as any to post the small but very beautiful collection of bags that graced the runway for Marchesa Spring 2012. I know that bags are an afterthought for the gown-heavy line, but they're always so beautiful and...

I can honestly say, though, that there's not a single bag from Burberry Spring 2012 that I wouldn't carry.
Perhaps the biggest surprise from the collection was how little leather it included. In fact, only a few of the woven clutches were entirely leather and a couple of the larger totes...

Naturally, you'll find a lot of Rockstud in Valentino Spring 2013, but with a line that continues to sell so well and seems to be only gaining in popularity, it'd be unwise for Valentino to go in a different direction just yet. For those of you who don't dig the Rockstud (all four of you),...

Will the hobo be making a comeback for spring? If Gucci has anything to say about it, the answer is "yes." Ladylike satchels and small crossbody bags have been the currency of the accessories industry for the past several seasons, so much so that Gucci Spring 2012's stable of chain-strapped...

In the three years that I've been covering accessories for this site, I can't remember another season where I saw so many lovely handbag options on the runway.
Valentino, like countless other designers so far, made its handbag statement in black, first and foremost. Red and pale pink also...